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Some Sea Slugs Can Regenerate Their Whole Bodies (And More Tricks! ...)

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
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This is absolutely mind-blowing - sea slugs that can survive under conditions (e.g., decapitation) of the sort we associate with sci-fi / horror movies.

But wait - there's more ... The separated body and the head can survive autonomously for weeks or more.
This sea slug can chop off its head and grow an entire new body, twice

Two species of sea slugs can pop off their heads and regrow their entire bodies from the noggin down, scientists in Japan recently discovered. This incredible feat of regeneration can be achieved in just a couple of weeks and is absolutely mind-blowing.

Most cases of animal regeneration — replacing damaged or lost body parts with an identical replacement — occur when arms, legs or tails are lost to predators and must be regrown. But these sea slugs, which belong to a group called sacoglossans, can take it to the next level by regrowing an entirely new body from just their heads, which they seem to be able to detach from their original bodies on purpose.

If that wasn't strange enough, the slugs' heads can survive autonomously for weeks thanks in part to their unusual ability to photosynthesize like plants, which they hijack from the algae they eat. And if that's still not enough in the bizarro realm, the original decapitated body can also go on living for days or even months without their heads. ...

"We believe that this is the most extreme form of autonomy and regeneration in nature," lead author Sayaka Mitoh, a doctoral student at Nara Women's University in Japan, told Live Science.

Further investigations revealed that another species of sacoglossan sea slug (Elysia atroviridis) also undergoes this type of regeneration and that certain individuals can pull off the trick more than once. ...

FULL STORY (With Photos & Video): https://www.livescience.com/decapitated-sea-slugs-regrow-entire-body.html
 
Self-decapitating!??! :pop:
 
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